About Elsa
Working with perception and felt sense to reveal the deeper layers at play, allowing us to engage complexity without reducing it.
From a young age I sensed there was more going on than met my eyes.
I was fixated on the subtle, unexpected shifts that reveal there is more to our existence. I noticed how someone could go from feeling completely stuck, flat, and unsure of how to proceed to experiencing a sudden flash of insight, noticing how their energy would increase and their face would light up.
I could step out onto the street, or into the garden holding a question in my mind and how after walking around and immersing myself in the space around me an answer would arise—almost as though it found me.
Later in life I was trained to explore these events, to peel back the layers and reveal more of what’s actually occurring in these times, so that we could discover more of what’s possible, see new ways to engage and connect with a deeper sense of meaning.
My life’s work became an inquiry into how we bring the information that exists beneath the surface into view; how we make visible the not yet known but critical information that shapes our sense of the world so we have more agency for how we engage.
My PhD explored how people move from being stuck to having a sudden sense of how to proceed when things are complex and there is no clear path forward. I studied how these shifts occur at a granular and felt level, through our direct experience.
I kept asking: When you feel lost, stuck or at a crossroads in your life, what is happening at the edges of your experience? How much are you perceiving? What allows you to stay with the discomfort long enough to enable a shift to happen?
Whether I’m working with individuals, groups, or organizations, I’m continually drawn to explore how we find our way, how we decipher what the situation is inviting us to lean into even when we feel constricted and are unclear of how to proceed. I am interested in how we align with a larger horizon of possibility, one that calls us forth to inhabit more of who we are, that expands our capacity and opens us to the unexpected.
I help others notice the patterns, relationships, and possibilities that expand their perception and range of response.
Most of my days are spent at the edges—where ideas are just coming into form, where sense is emerging as knowing, where plans meet reality, and where good intentions tangle with systems, culture and the sheer volume of information many of us face. Rather than relying solely on fixed models, we cultivate ways of seeing and engaging that are attuned and adapt to meet the situations we find ourselves in, evolving with us.
Wayfinding, for me, is both art and practice. It’s how we orient when no map is given, and learn to sense and respond according what is arising in the moment.
How I Work
My facilitation is spacious and precise. We slow down enough to perceive what’s actually happening, then move.
Drawing from my background in process work (process-oriented psychology), depth psychology, network practice, and years inside multi-stakeholder, cross-cultural collaborations, I help people make sense of their experience and discern their next steps.
The focus of my work is about finding an orientation: language, practices, and stances you can draw upon to meet the moment and the variety of situations you find yourself in, and inhabit more of who you are in the process.
Sometimes that looks like guiding a leadership team through a stuck moment until the next true move is visible to everyone. Sometimes it’s with an individual, partnering with them to surface insights and explore ways of engaging with tension, uncertainty, and transitions, that deepen their work and leave them feeling more resourced.
Other times it's with a cohort, learning the capabilities of wayfinding in their personal lives, attentional practices, way of engaging the unknown, and the discipline of harvesting and transmuting a variety of experience so it becomes embodied know-how.
What You’ll Leave With
A steadier presence in uncertainty, more choices in the moment and faster recovery when you do get knocked off course.
A capacity to receive insights from a wider array of sources to notice subtle cues that help you make decisions and participate in your life from a place of integrity.
A renewed sense of authorship instead of pushing forward at any cost, learning to adapt, respond and recalibrate moment-by-moment so you co-create with life.
And often, something quieter: a felt thread. Faith in where you’ve come from and how it informs where you’re going. Enough slack in the system to pause, sense, and respond.
Values
Wakefulness
Resisting numbness, autopilot, or unquestioned conformity
Vitality
Restoring spark in people and systems so they feel alive rather than drained or constrained.
Presence
Leaning into the depths of the moment, participating fully rather than just ticking boxes or going through the motions.
Integration
Ensuring the inner and outer, the intuitive and the structural, inform each other.
Alignment
Syncing action with inner knowing, felt sense, contextual information and the realities of one’s environment.
Honouring Rhythm
Fostering change that moves and adapts with the context instead of importing cookie-cutter solutions.
The Shoulders I Stand On
I stand on the shoulders of many teachers, elders and guides:
Dr. Charlotte von Bülow, Dr. Peter Simpson, my PhD supervisors, my mentors Christina Nielsen and Dr. Julia Wolfson. Dr. Claire Jankelson and Binta Ayofemi who both have shown me the magic an educator can embody. My incredible parents Lynne and Robert, who embody wayfinding as a principle in how they lead their lives.
My teachers Salome Schwartz, Dr. Amy and Arnold Mindell and Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes.
The work of scholars such Robert Chia, Tim Ingold, Chellie Spiller, Donna Ladkin, and Joshua Bergamin have also played a significant role in shaping my understanding.
And my husband, Patrick O’Neill, who I learn from each day.
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Elsa Henderson, MA, Dipl. PW, PhD
I'm a coach, facilitator, and scholar-practitioner specializing in adaptive leadership and process-oriented approaches to navigating complexity.
Training & Credentials
My approach is grounded in over a decade of training in relational and process-oriented methodologies:
PhD in Leadership and Management (2025) – University of the West of England, Bristol. My research explored wayfinding in dynamic complexity, examining how organizational practitioners (leaders, managers and consultants) get unstuck, make sense of and navigate uncertain and complex environments.
MA & Diploma in Process-Oriented Psychology (2013-2017) – Process Work Institute, Portland, Oregon. Specialized training in facilitation, conflict resolution, psychotherapeutic work and working with somatic experiences through post-jungian and process-oriented approaches.
Microphenomenological Interview Training (2023-2024) – Three-month intensive training in microphenomenological interviewing methods.
Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Psychology (2011-2013) – Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts.
ACC ICF Certified Coach (2013-Present) – International Coaching Federation Associate Certified Coach, with additional advanced certifications from the Global Coaching Institute and Apositiva.
Certified Grundkraft Facilitator and Trainer – Leaders Empowered certification in embodied and process-oriented leadership practices.
Training with Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés (2013-2018) – Four certificates in developmental, depth, and expressive arts practices.
